


...We Pull Them Up

by ftlow



Series: When Flowers Bloom... [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, wound flowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:14:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28170759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ftlow/pseuds/ftlow
Summary: Indra's soulmate meant everything to her - until he became her worst nightmare.
Series: When Flowers Bloom... [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2063685
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	...We Pull Them Up

_Kneel or die._

Indra's soulmate was scouted by fleimkepas when Indra was five years old. Layers upon layers of forget-me-nots blossomed across her skin, darkening it further and further as he learned through ritual practice and repeated sparring. 

He was Sangedakru. The wound flowers from his clan marks lasted the longest of all, and Indra bore them proudly amongst her Trikru family. 

She believed in the wound flowers with her whole heart, and she displayed them. This is who I am, and this is who my soulmate is. 

Indra hung up her training weapons and picked up her first real sword when she was seven. She had four years until she could prove herself in battle, and she was determined to make them count. If her soulmate was to be Commander, then she would be a worthy partner. If he were to die in his conclave, then she would fight his enemies as her own. 

_Kneel or die._

He won his conclave. Malachi com Sangedakru became the Commander - and so began a reign of terror that started with the deaths of Fleimkepas and ended with invasions. 

Indra was no longer proud of her wound flowers, for every one symbolised the spilt blood of her people. She worked harder to fight, to be a warrior. 

_Kneel or die._

When her soulmate invaded her homeland, Indra was ready. She was a warrior. She was of age, she was strong, she was full of hate for the man the fates saw fit to pair her with. 

She shed no tears when her father was slain, and she watched in disgust as her mother knelt before him, and she lifted her chin in defiance.

_Kneel or die._

Malachi struck her with the back of his hand, and white lilies bloomed across his cheek.

He cut her arm, and white lilies burst onto his own.

He chuckled delightedly, and took her from her destroyed home, leaving behind her kneeling clan.

_Kneel or die._

When his fourth Fleimkepa turned on him, he was covered head to toe in white willies. Indra regretted that she was not the one at whose hands her soulmate died, but took pleasure in the memory of his fear of arachnids on her long journey home.

Her rose remained alive over her heart; a new Commander ascended. War continued.

_Kneel or die._

The phrase, so familiar and so chilling, haunted her. Indra knew her soulmate would never truly die. She took a knife and cut the wound flower away, bearing her teeth around a carefully cut stick; she laid a burning blade over her bleeding breast, and dressed it. 

The dark oval scar had almost healed when Gaia was born, eight months after Sheidheda's death. Indra believed in nothing but the earth and herself, and she named her daughter after one, and fought on to protect the other. 

Gaia never developed a single wound flower, and Indra was glad. She brought her daughter up a warrior, and taught her strength and self sufficiency. When Gaia became a fleimkepa scout, Indra had never felt so betrayed.

_Kneel or die._

Her soulmate had taught her nothing but hurt and distrust. He had not passed on his Nightblood to their daughter- but still, she felt a pull towards him.

Indra let her daughter go, and fought harder, and trained harder. Always, that scar was a reminder that belief, and love, they hurt.

_Kneel or die._

The way of the warrior was the only way that made any sense.


End file.
